Fear not, defenders of democracy: Helldivers 2 players who bail on operations in futile hope of quick XP are only fooling themselves.
For some context, there's a popular, albeit slightly dubious method of farming XP in Helldivers 2. It's basically: find a multi-part operation, blitz through the mission with the most easy kills and samples, and then bail on the operation with your bag of XP. Certainly not very democratic, but until now it's been unclear whether the practice was giving the Automatons (and, elsewhere, the bugs) an edge against the remaining players.
The game's community manager, going by Evil-Bosse on Discord, said in a recent update that, "yes, quitting after only half the [operation] counts as a loss for super earth," but we're now learning that's inaccurate.
"I can confirm that abandoning an operation does not progress the enemy's percentage, so people who leave operations do not negatively affect a planet," said another Arrowhead community dev going by Misty. "Unfortunately Evil-Bosse got it wrong, but we all make mistakes!"
So, essentially, XP farmers are off the hook, or at least they aren't public enemy number one anymore. Dipping in and out of operations in search of quick loot isn't hurting anyone - it's just not really helping anyone besides the XP farmer themselves, which is pretty much the definition of undemocratic behavior. But alas, it is indeed the spirit of democracy that folks can do whatever they well please, and in this case, it isn't technically hurting anyone. Grind away, XP farmers, but know that your freedom-fueled peers are shaking their heads in disapproval as they clean up the missions you left unfinished.
This is why you read Helldivers 2 patch notes closely: a goldfish "was laid to rest" in space where the pressure "caused it to heat up, violently explode, and disintegrate"
Helldivers 2 players are calling the absolutely brutal new major order "unwinnable," but at least they have the new WW1 gun and its melee bayonet to help them out
